Cubase 12 dropping VST 2 support (For Apple Silicon)

[zvenx]

Yet, there are tons of developers including arguable the most prolific of them all, Waves, who have had vst3 plugins that work great, some of them for over 10 years.
Are they using alien technology and know how to do so?
Rsp

[VitaminD]

https://forums.steinberg.net/t/cubase-1 ... t/748993/3

"Are you going to trash VST2?"
"Yes, that is correct. Only on Apple M1 systems VST2 plugins won't run."

Huh?

No wonder that people misinterpret their statements.

I read from Matthias Quellmann's statements the following: VST2 plugins will still run for some time in Cubase, but, at some point, Cubase will become VST3 only. Which is what we already know. Since years.

Wow. Matthias_Quellmann being a total jerk in that thread. Steinberg needs better PR and Community representatives than that guy can offer.

The push to VST3 has indeed been in the works for many years though. Breaking compatibility or having to use multiple versions of the software to retain support for older projects is pretty lame.

It is a financial decision on Steinbergs back it seems to get everyone on the newer version for the licensing fees. VST2 support is already in the software so there is no work to keep it there. More work to gut it from subsequent versions. Greed over backwards compatibility. I thoroughly enjoy Cubase but really detest Steinberg as a company for things such as this.

The whole market does need to get off of VST in general and onto less proprietary and controlled 'standards' imo.

[apoclypse]

VST2 plugins work natively in Bitwig on my Apple Silicon MBP... (no Rosetta).

Could it be that Bitwig uses a plugin wrapper?

And of course it is Steinberg who is not making an AS native SDK.

Well, they do. For VST3, which they still support.

Okay. But you keep trying to imply that Steinberg not supporting VST2 is somehow Apple's fault. Bitwig doesn't have any issues supporting VST2 in their native version. If Steinberg can't be bothered to build a translation layer, then that's strictly a Steinberg problem, not an Apple problem. Hell Apple built an AU translation layer at the OS level letting DAWs with native versions like Studio One, Live, and FLStudio take advantage of that. So they get AU support by default with little effort on their end.

This is just Steinberg taking the opportunity to finally move the transition from VST2 in amore decisive way.

[chk071]

I'm really done with this thread, and the people in it. Please stop quoting me. Thank you.

[apoclypse]

Well, on u-he's site, there is no mention of the VST2's not being ARM native, so, I (have to) take your word for it.

"Not mention of them not being ARM native?" "Take my word for it?"

Why would everyone be lying about this? I assure you, these are "actual facts" (it's a term I invented - means the opposite of "fake news").

I'm using them in real-life on my 2021 M1 Macbook Pro on Reaper. The native (ARM64) and bridged (Intel) VST2 plugins both work in Reaper, but they show up differently and you can tell which are which just from the plugin names. This is real.

FL Studio and Ableton Live are also Apple Silicon native now. They are also running native VST2 plugins without issue. Only Steinberg is announcing that they are dropping support for VST2.

Studio One as well. I have it open right now in Native mode and I'm looking at a whole bunch of native VST2 plugins. Steinberg not supporting VST2 is a choice they made for their own reasons. Other DAWs are fine supporting VST2 natively. This is a Steinberg issue not an Apple, or Apple Silicon issue.

[apoclypse]

I'm really done with this thread, and the people in it. Please stop quoting me. Thank you.

No I don't think I will. If you don't want to get called out on a forum, then don't participate in said forum. It's that simple in my book. You put out incorrect information based on conjecture/feelings whatever you were thinking, people are going to call you out on it. Sucks but that's how public forums should work.

[chk071]

No I don't think I will.

Thanks. That's what I mean. Heart-warming.

[apoclypse]

No I don't think I will.

Thanks. That's what I mean. Heart-warming.

I thought you were done?

[chk071]

If I wasn't already, I am now. Thanks for confirming my impressions.

[apoclypse]

If I wasn't already, I am now. Thanks for confirming my impressions.

Glad I could be of help. Happy New Years!

[Trensharo]

People should not be complaining about Steinberg.

People have every right to complain about Steinberg, because they are the stewards of a platform. If they don't want the responsibilities of that role, they should go ahead and renounce it. The industry will move on without them.

VST3 could be a lot better than it is. It would have been already, if Steinberg had listened to advice/criticism from third-party developers at any point in the last eight years. They could have incentivized developers to make the switch by designing the format with developers' needs in mind. Instead, they designed what was convenient for them at the time and told everyone else to get f**ked, and then acted surprised when developers didn't immediately come crawling back for the chance to lick their shoes.

If we can criticize Apple and Microsoft for this kind of behavior, we can absolutely criticize Steinberg as well.

Steinberg gave them 8 years notice.

Complaining about Steinberg is laughable, at this point.

This is all on the plugin and DAW developers.

Sorry, but no.

[Trensharo]

This is just Steinberg taking the opportunity to finally move the transition from VST2 in amore decisive way.

And why shouldn't they?

[apoclypse]

This is just Steinberg taking the opportunity to finally move the transition from VST2 in amore decisive way.

And why shouldn't they?

Oh they definitely should. I think some developers need a kick on the pants (looking at you NI). They are more than happy to take your money every time they update their software but can't be bothered to keep up with the technology. When smaller independent developer can do it there is no excuse imo.

[pdxindy]

This is just Steinberg taking the opportunity to finally move the transition from VST2 in amore decisive way.

And why shouldn't they?

Steinberg can do what they want, including arbitrarily dropping support for VST2 only on Apple Silicon machines. Plenty of other Apple native DAW's will continue to support VST2 so users can drop Cubase and switch to a DAW that will still function with their existing plugins.

[Trensharo]

This is just Steinberg taking the opportunity to finally move the transition from VST2 in amore decisive way.

And why shouldn't they?

Steinberg can do what they want, including arbitrarily dropping support for VST2 only on Apple Silicon machines. Plenty of other Apple native DAW's will continue to support VST2 so users can drop Cubase and switch to a DAW that will still function with their existing plugins.

Most plugins are already shipping VST3, and active developers are quickly adding it for the rest. The only plug-ins that will be left behind, are those that are out of development or old versions of plugins that have received paid updates since then.

I think you're blowing this way out of proportion. Almost no one will leave Cubase for this reason...